zexal maniac
by dourako
Summary: kotori mizuki, the new girl at school, loses an important thing. when the school's popular girl, rio kamishiro, finds it and returns it, kotori feels it's okay to let rio in on her secret - she's a witch! [ultramaniac au - ongoing]
1. Chapter 1

_I never was interested in magic. So, I never even dreamt that this was possible._

Walking down the hallway, a girl with blue hair and red eyes sighed to herself. It had been a long day, and it was way too quiet.

"Rio-senpai! Bye bye!"

She grinned and waved to a couple of girls in her grade, shouting back a 'bye!'. The girls squealed and ran way giddily, shouts of 'she talked to us!' fading in the distance. Rio laughed quietly, continuing her walk home. Rio was fairly popular in her school, and lots of girls looked up to her, giving her gifts or talking to her at any chance. Rio thought it was endearing.

"Hey, Rio! Are you going home?"

"Tenjō-kun!" Rio looked up to meet eyes with Kaito Tenjō, who had caught up to her side. "Oh yeah, there's no tennis practice today for the girls today." He said, hitching his schoolbag. Rio laughed, subconsciously fiddling with the bottom of her coat. Kaito grinned at her, meeting her eyes. "You're really popular amongst all the first year girls. At competition, a lot of people were fighting to get you to join their clubs! They call you the most calm and beautiful girl in Heartland Academy, Rio Kamishiro."

Rio shook her head, raising an eyebrow at him. "What about you? You're popular not just with the first years, but second and third years too! The ace of the baseball team, Kaito Tenjō!"

Kaito ran a hand through his blond hair, his messy teal bangs pulled back by his hand, laughing somewhat nervously. "I have to go to my club now, bye!" They waved to each other, and when Kaito was out of view, Rio's entire face broke out in a blush. _I talked to him! I'm so happy!_

Rio's huge grin was gone when she heard a couple of footsteps nearby. "Bye, Rio-senpai!" She turned back to say bye, mentally scolding herself. _If they see my stupid smile, I'll lose my cool status!_

After the girls were gone, Rio continued her walk, stopping when she heard someone crying. Who in the world…?

The one crying ended up being Kotori Mizuki, the new girl. Rio's mind swam with possibilities of the cause of her crying. _Did someone bully her?_

"Mizuki-san! What happened?" Rio questioned, making Kotori look up in surprise. "Rio-san!" Kotori started sobbing again, her words coming out between hiccups. "I lost something really important! I keep searching, but I can't find it…" She rubbed at her eyes, trying to stop her crying. Rio sighed, her worry gone. She thought something more serious happened. "Do you know where you lost it?"

"I don't know! I didn't realize I lost it until too late. What if someone takes it? What'll I do?" Kotori's words came out in a hurry, not stopping to breathe. "Calm down, it'll be okay. We can look for it together," Rio said, trying to calm the other girl down. "Really?! You'll help me?" she said, smiling with tears in her eyes. "Sure! What did you lose?"

Kotori's face then got a weird look to it, and her enthusiasm to look for her stuff was gone. "Uh…"

And then she started laughing.

"I'm sorry, I'll look for it myself! Don't worry! I'm sorry! Bye!"

She took Rio by surprise, and Kotori ran away, waving back to her. Rio stared at her running, a dumbfounded look on her face. What was that all about?

Shaking her head, Rio continued her walk home, passing by the school's courtyard. That's when something caught her eye, under a bench. It was small and pink, and looked like a sort of portable game. "Is that what she lost?"

_That's right! I saw Mizuki-san with this the other day, and she left it behind by accident!_

Rio picked it up, turning it this way and that. Opening it, she was met by a bunch of strange symbols. "I never understood these games," she sighed, flipping it closed. "I should go find Mizuki-san and return this."

The look on Kotori's face was too excited over a simple game, tears in her eyes and a huge grin. "Thank you, Rio-san! Thank you so much!" Words of thanks kept spilling out of her, and Rio had to calm her down before she started to actually cry again. "Hey, it's okay! I was just passing by and noticed it under a bench."

"A bench?" Kotori mused, looking her device over. "I didn't even think of that…"

"That's okay, at least we found it. I'll be going now!"

"WAIT!" Kotori grabbed hold of Rio's sleeve, looking at her with a scared expression. "Did you open this?"

"Yeah, I did. I'm not interested in video games, though. You should be careful though, a teacher could take it away if they see you have it," Rio said, and then turned back to walk home. "See you!"

Kotori watched Rio walk away, and clutched her device close to her chest, smiling. That's when she decided she would follow Rio and watch over her.

In the hallways, in the library, at the entrance - Kotori followed Rio from a distance, peeking around corner and watching her. She wasn't being sneaky at all, and Rio could feel someone staring at her. She even followed Rio to her tennis practice! When Rio turned to look at her, Kotori just smiled from outside the tennis court. _What does she want? Is she stalking me? I need to talk to her._ "Hey, Mizuki-san!"

But Kotori was gone. Rio raised an eyebrow, clutching her tennis racket by her side. Was she just imagining things?

Kotori really was there though, and she was humming to herself as she walked from the tennis court. _I've made up my mind! It's okay for me to tell Rio-chan!_


	2. Chapter 2

"Rio, listen to us. The boys' club is awful!"

Two girls from Rio's tennis team were standing in front of her desk, angry looks on their faces. The girls' and boys' tennis teams got into a disagreement again, and this time, it seemed to be something big. "They're saying we don't practice enough, so they want us to only use one court! That's not fair!"

Rio was sympathizing with them on the outside, but on the inside, she groaned._ The second year boys and girls are always like this!_

"After school, we're having a match! Whoever wins get 3 courts, and the loser gets 1 court," one of the girls explained. Both girls smiled at Rio, and clapped her back. "The girls' tennis team believes in you!"

"Wait, you want me to play!?" Rio shouted, fear written all over her face. "You're the only one who can beat the guys!" they said determinedly. Then, one of the girls pointed in another direction. "You're representing the girls' team, and he's representing the boys' team."

Rio sighed, seeing as how she wasn't getting out of this one. Might as well know who she was going up against. _Please tell me it isn't…_

The girl was pointing to a guy with purple hair and blue bangs, who seemed to be too busy talking to some of the other guys for him to notice they were talking about him.

… _it is._

Rio was going up against Ryōga Kamishiro, the star of the boys' team. He had been playing tennis for over two years, and had amazing skill. Throughout the whole day, Rio kept fussing about the upcoming match. Why couldn't both teams just agree to use two courts each? It was stupid! Making her way to the tennis court, Rio kept trying to think of a way to get out of this mess. _I need to convince them to use two courts each… but how? What do I do?_

"Ryōga-kun…" Rio mused, fiddling with her tennis racket. _He doesn't talk to the girls, so I don't know him. But he's so serious! I can't believe he's part of this!_

One thing Rio did know was that Ryōga was close friends with Kaito. They were always together, and if someone as good as Kaito was close with Ryōga, then he must be a good guy. Rio groaned frustrated, pulling at her hair. This was all so stressing!

"Rio-chan!"

That voice sounded too familiar. Rio turned around to meet face to face with Kotori, who either didn't see Rio acting strange, or just didn't care. "I have something to tell you! Are you free for a moment?" Kotori asked, a hopeful look in her eyes. _Did she just call me Rio-chan?_

But Rio followed to wherever Kotori was leading her. Maybe if she listened, Kotori would leave her alone.

"Alright! Nobody should be coming here any time soon," Kotori exclaimed happily, smiling at Rio. "I want to thank you again for helping me find this!" She pulled out that pink device again, holding it up for Rio to see. "This is very important to me. If I lost it, I don't know what I'd do!"

"I was thinking about how to repay you. I thought I could tell you my secret, but I couldn't do it so suddenly!"

"Secret?" Rio asked, but Kotori went on with her ramble. "After watching you for a few days, I think it's alright to tell you!" Kotori grinned, her voice filled with happiness. "I'm not an ordinary girl. I'm actually a witch from the magic world, here as a transfer student!"

Kotori took Rio's quietness as a sign to continue with her ramble. "I failed an exam, so I might not graduate there. So, I moved here!" Holding up the pink device again, Kotori pointed at it. "This is my magic computer! It's small, so it's easy to carry. It has three categories of magic, and lets me download spells. Without this, I can't do magic."

Rio didn't know what to say. It all seemed too unreal, almost like Kotori was pulling a prank on her. "I'd like to use my magic to help you! So go on, ask for anything. Don't be shy!" Kotori put her hands behind her back, swaying back and forth on the heels of her feet, waiting for Rio's answer. "Rio-chan?"

Rio's mind blanked out. No words came out of her, and Kotori started fretting over her. "Are you okay, Rio-chan?" The initial shock wore off, and Rio shouted out an 'I'm fine!' before Kotori started causing a scene. Kotori seemed to accept that answer, and just smiled at Rio, waiting for her answer. _She doesn't seem to be joking. She's serious. This girl is dangerous! I shouldn't get involved…_

"It's alright, you don't have to repay me. Bye!" Rio waved her off, but Kotori latched on to her arm. "Wait, I can't accept that! Let me repay you!" Kotori was persistent, and taking up her time. Rio needed to get to the tennis match soon. "Alright, alright. How about you make my tennis skills improve? I have to win a match today."

"No problem! Let me just search up spells that'll work for you!" Kotori beamed, flipping open her computer and tapping away. Looking over Kotori's shoulder and looking at all the strange symbols, Rio raised an eyebrow. "You don't use wands?" Kotori giggled, waving Rio off. "Wands? Those were used in my grandmother's time! But we use computers now."

Turning back to her computer, Kotori seemed to have found something, a proud smile on her face. "Okay, this will work!" Suddenly, a small box appeared in Kotori's hand. It was adorned with lacy patterns. "This is a magic box. After I download the spell, I put one of these chocolate candies in the box. But anything else can work too!" A box of chocolates suddenly appeared, and Kotori dropped one singular candy in the box. "I connect the box to the computer, and we're ready to go!" The magic box and computer were connected by a sort of USB cord. Pressing one of the larger buttons on the computer, Kotori said the 'magic word'.

"Practice!"

Suddenly, a burst of light emitted from the box, almost blinding. Rio jumped back in shock, clutching her chest. _What the heck was that?_

"Okay, it's done!" Holding up the chocolate candy, Kotori put it in Rio's hands. "Eat this. It's a transforming chocolate candy!" Rio stared at the candy suspiciously, looking at it from every angle. She was hesitant to eat it. _Come on, Rio. Be brave!_

And so, she ate the chocolate candy in one bite. It was crunchy, and actually had a good taste. At first, nothing seemed to have happened.

Then everything went white.


	3. Chapter 3

"Yay, I did it!"

_What just happened? It felt like something inside me split apart… did I faint?_

"You look great, Rio-chan! Look for yourself!" Kotori seemed ecstatic, pulling out a compact mirror from her pocket. Rio was not aware her body was supposed to change. Maybe she just got more muscular? That must be it.

Looking at herself in Kotori's mirror, Rio seemed completely normal at first. Same red eyes, same face, same short blue hair –

Wait.

Squinting at her reflection, Rio moved the mirror farther away, looking at her entire upper body. Her hair reached her neck, her long bangs now only reaching her chin. Now that she looked better, her face was more square-ish than before. Shock was written all over Rio's face.

"A man… why do I see a man…?!" Rio gasped, slamming the compact mirror shut and looking at Kotori, who seemed completely unfazed by this change. "I couldn't find a spell to make you better at sports, that's above my skill level right now. So, I turned you into a man!" Kotori explained casually, looking at Rio with a hopeful look. "Idiot, that's crazy! I'm not the same person! How can I compete now?!"

Kotori flinched at Rio's outburst, beginning to think this was a bad idea. "You could tell them that you're playing in Rio-chan's place, since she's sick?" she suggested, but Rio groaned and practically pulled at her hair. "That's not going to work!" she shouted, fiddling with her tennis uniform. Now that she thought about it, if she was a man now…

"How come my uniform still fits? Did it grow too?"

"Yup! This spell will grow your clothes along with yourself."

That was actually pretty amazing, all things considered. Rio looked over herself in awe, then snapped back to reality. "Wait, no, this isn't good! I'm much better off as a girl!"

Looking around, Kotori grinned and picked up Rio's tennis racket. "Here, practice! You'll see a difference in skill." Eyeing the racket with doubt, Rio looked at Kotori. "Mizuki-san… are you really a witch?" she asked, still in disbelief. "Yup!"

It was still too much to take in, the thought of it all seeming impossible. But she might as well go with it, since there was no going back now. Taking the racket from Kotori's hands, Rio made her way over to the practice court wall, bouncing the ball back and forth for a while, testing her skills. "Well, how is it?" Kotori asked.

"I definitely feel a difference. I'm faster now, and my arm is longer… I might be able to win!" Rio exclaimed happily, and Kotori did a little cheer. "But they have to let me play first." Rio said, doubt in her voice. There was only one way to find out.

Walking with Kotori to the court where the match would take place, Rio's hands tightened around her racket in nervousness. _What if they don't let me play? What'll I do then?_

When they arrived, both teams stared at Rio, murmuring to each other. "Uh, hi! Rio isn't feeling good, so she went home! She asked me, her… cousin, to play for her! Would that be okay?" Rio asked, trying not to give her inner fear away. Judging from the stares from the girls' team, she guessed they weren't gonna buy it. Sei, one of the girls on the team, was whispering back and forth with Sachi, another teammate. "Is this really okay?" she asked. Sachi shrugged, turning back to look at Rio again. "If he's Rio's cousin, then he must be good too!"

All the girls looked at each other and nodded, turning back to look at Rio. "Okay, you can play!"

_They bought it…_

"That's cheating!" one of the boys from the boys' team shouted, the rest of the team agreeing with him. "If Rio is sick, go find another girl! You can't use outside players!"

"Why not?! A match between boys and girls is unfair anyway!"

"Actually, I don't have a problem with it," came a voice. Everyone stopped bickering and turned to look at Ryōga, who seemed indifferent to the whole situation. Takashi, a guy from the boys' team, sighed with relief. He had been hoping both teams' bickering would end. "A one set game, right? Let's get started!" he shouted, hoping both teams would walk away from each other and watch. Rio sighed, eyeing Ryōga. _Let's do this!_

"One set match! Girls' team goes first!" the referee shouted, and both teams got filled with excitement. "You can do it, Rio-chan!" Kotori shouted from the audience, and the girls' team turned to stare at her. "Rio-chan?" one of them asked, and Kotori laughed nervously, trying to think of something. "Uh… well, his name is Rioto! It's a nickname!" The girls seemed to buy it, and Kotori sighed with relief.

Taking in a deep breath, Rio raised her racket and hit the ball, confident in her serve. But the ball never made it over the net, slamming directly downwards and bouncing awkwardly. Everyone stared at it, in dead silence. _The ball hit the racket's hilt! Is it because my arm is longer?_

Clenching her hand around the racket, Rio served again, confident that the ball would go over the net now. But it hit the other side and bounced away from the court. A double fault.

_I got taller too, so I have to control my shots now_! Rio thought her heart racing. This wasn't going as planned. _I have to force myself to hold back or the ball will keep bouncing out of bounds. I never noticed because I was practicing against a wall!_

That's when realization dawned down on her. _This body is useless!_

And so the match went on, Ryōga racking up points for the boys' team in amazing speed. He moved with graceful speed, not seeming to break a sweat. Rio, on the other hand, couldn't score even one point. "Rio's cousin is kind of weak…" Sei mused, and Sachi nodded. "We play better than him!"

Ryōga scored once again, setting the score to 6 – 0. That ended the match, and the boys' team shouted with excitement. Rio awkwardly made her way over to the middle of the court, shaking hands with Ryōga. "Congratulations!" she said, trying to sound cheerful. But the embarrassment was practically eating her up. Tetsuo, one of the boys from Ryōga's team, happily fist bumping the air. "The boys' team will have three courts to practice now!"

"No. Each team is getting 2 courts. We're sharing equally." Ryōga said, stopping the boys' from their celebration. "Why!?" they shouted back, talking to each other. "Both teams have the same number of players. It won't be fair if we don't use the courts evenly."

"But the girls' team lost!" Tetsuo shouted, and Ryōga sent him a fearful glare. "Stop it. I'm the one who played, so I get to decide what happens."

The girls' team was ecstatic, smiles on their faces. "But, you also have to work harder." Ryōga said to the girls' team. "You use the courts to practice, but never do exercise or muscle training." The boys' team snickered, and Ryōga turned to talk to them. "You guys are lazy too."

Both teams didn't look directly at him, staring at their feet or at each other. "Both teams need to improve – together. Stop fighting all the time, got it?"

"I think so too!" Rio shouted, and Ryōga stared at her. "I mean... that's what Rio would say!" she said nervously. Ryōga nodded in agreement, and walked out of the court, taking his equipment with him. _Ryōga-kun is really nice… no wonder he's good friends with Tenjō-kun!_

* * *

"I'm sorry, Rio-chan. I only made things worse." Kotori mumbled, staring at the ground. She and Rio were walking behind the school building after the match. "It's alright! In the end, everything worked out just fine. Also, it was kind of fun!" Rio said, trying to make the smaller girl feel better. "Really?! That's great!"

"So, can you get me back to normal now?" Rio asked, and Kotori pulled out her computer. "Let me search for the reverse spell!"

The only sounds Rio could hear were the clicks of the buttons on Kotori's computer. After a while, she made a face at her screen, mumbling to herself. She looked up at Rio, and then laughed. "I can't find it! I'm sorry!"

"What do you mean you can't find it?!" Rio shouted, fear written all over her face. "What're we gonna do?!"

"I'm sorry! I'll look again, don't worry!"

Two hours later, when Kotori finally found a spell in her skill range, Rio returned to her normal self. The incident would only be the first of many to come for Kotori's new friend.


	4. Chapter 4

"Good morning, Rio-chan!"

"Good morning, witch girl."

Kotori covered Rio's mouth with her hands, looking around nervously. "Don't say that!" she whispered loudly – she looked like she was going to faint. "Nobody else knows about me. You can't tell anyone! It's law for us 'overseas' students from the magic world." Rio stared at Kotori in disbelief. "But you told me."

"Because you're trustworthy! You helped me find my computer, and you're not the type to gossip. I think you can protect my secret, right?" Kotori smiled warmly. Rio could swear she felt her eyebrow twitch. You made me part of this without my permission!

Making their way to the school's entrance, Rio opened her cubby. "What would happen if I told someone? Would it be a crime?" she asked. "It wouldn't be a crime but… a lot of money would be taken." Kotori replied. "Money?"

"Magic would be used to erase your memory, and that uses a lot money, since it's a very advanced spell." Kotori said casually, as if this sort of thing happened every day. "Erase my memory?! I don't want that to happen!" Rio shouted, earning her some looks from passerby students. "Then you'll protect my secret?"

It's not like Rio wanted to go blabbing to the world about Kotori anyway, but she sighed and agreed. Kotori giggled and all seemed to okay. "Oh, wait! You looked angry earlier. Did something happen?" she asked. Rio seemed to get angry all over again, and she glared at nothing in particular. "Some strange guy kept trying to touch me in the bus."

"You take the bus?" Kotori asked, walking with Rio to their class. "I usually walk, but today I wanted to ride the bus," she replied. "I felt so weird! Ugh, I'm not taking the bus anymore!"

Rio kept walking, but Kotori stayed behind, watching her go. Her head was swimming with thoughts. Then, an idea popped into her head.

Rio was sitting in her homeroom class, arms folded and staring straight ahead. She was tired from the ruckus this morning. Her teacher, Ukyo-sensei, was taking attendance, as usual.

"Omoteura?" "Here!"

"Todoroki?" "Here!"

"Tenjō?" "Here."

At the sound of his voice, Rio turned to look at him. She sat behind him in class, and she spent a lot of time just looking at him. _Tenjō-kun looks cool today too!_

That's when Rio noticed something strange. Turning to her right, the desk next to her was empty. By now, she should've had her ear talked off. _Kotori's not here… I wonder if she's okay._

Unknown to Rio, Kotori was on the other side of the school, behind the main building. Her magic box was open, and she put a few small beads inside. Content with her work, she pressed a button on her computer. "Practice!"

The magic box glowed white for a few seconds, then stopped. Opening the box, Kotori smiled as she saw the contents inside. A ring made out of the beads she put in earlier was now sitting there. "Yay, it's done!" she cheered, taking out the ring and looking it over. _This will help Rio-chan!_

Hearing the bell, Kotori got up and dusted herself off. Homeroom was now over, and she wanted to catch up with Rio. Running back inside, Kotori made her way over to the direction of their second class. "Rio-chan!" she shouted, spotting Rio ahead of her in the hallway. "Kotori! Where were you?"

"Here, I've got something for you!"

The ring was placed in Rio's hands, and her entire face light up. "It's… so cute! What is this?" she asked excitedly. Kotori giggled and put her hands behind her back. "It's a magic ring! I made it using a magic bead kit. If you put it on, you'll get protected from strange men on the bus!" she said. Putting it on, Rio stretched out her arm to examine her finger. "Whoa… can it really do that? That's amazing!"

For the first time, Rio seemed actually happy with Kotori's magic. "Thank you, Kotori!"

Together, they made their way to their next class, chatting animatedly. Rio didn't notice a group of boys coming their way, and accidentally bumped into one of them. Suddenly, a huge static shock bursted out of nowhere. Rio jumped back in surprise, letting out a shriek. Then, there on the floor, was the boy she had bumped into. "Are you okay?!" she asked, bending down to hold out her hand to help him up. When he grabbed her hand, the static shock happened again, and the boy started screaming. The group of boys circled around him, trying to figure out what happened. Rio turned to look at Kotori, who had a guilty look on her face. Suddenly, she grabbed Kotori's hand, running away from the commotion.

"What did you do!? What kind of magic did you put in this ring?"

"When a man touches you, he received an electric shock."

Rio groaned, stomping her foot. "Not every man I bump into a pervert!" Kotori bowed her head in shame, fiddling with her skirt. "Yes, I'm sorry." Sighing, Rio pulled on the ring, but it didn't budge. "I can't take it off…" she muttered. "It's a magic ring. There's a magic protection on it."

"Take it off, quickly!"

Nodding, Kotori pulled out her computer, tapping away to look for a spell to take off the ring. After a while of silence, she looked up at Rio, and laughed nervously. "Sorry, I can't find anything!"

"Don't say that!" Rio shouted. This seemed to be a reoccurring thing with Kotori's spells – she never actually had a way to remove them.

"Excuse me!"

Turning around, Rio noticed their teacher, Ukyo-sensei, walking towards them. "You left one of your schoolbooks back in the classroom" he said, handing Rio her book. Then, he turned to look at Kotori. "Mizuki, you weren't here during homeroom. You're a transfer student, so you can't afford to be late this soon in the school year." Kotori nodded, bowing. "Yes, I'm sorry!"

Ukyo noticed Rio's ring, smiling. "That's a cute ring! But you can't wear it during school, so please take it off." Rio laughed nervously, clutching her schoolbook tighter. "I can't take it off, so I'll do it later!" she said. "You can't take it off? Here, let me see." Ukyo offered, reaching for Rio's hand.

"STOP!" she screamed. Ukyo stared at her in confusion, raising an eyebrow. Rio didn't know how to get her teacher to leave her alone. How would she explain her ring is stuck on her finger because of magic? While she was thinking, she didn't notice Ukyo grabbing her wrist until the familiar light of electric shock came. He fell to the floor, unconscious. Grabbing Kotori's hand, Rio ran away, trying to get them alone. She kept bumping into random guys, leaving a trail of knocked out boys behind her. "Kotori, I'll be waiting in the school infirmary. Try to find a counter spell, quickly!"

Parting ways, Rio made her way to the school infirmary, glad that the hallway was empty for now. "Leaving already, Rio?"

Turning to the familiar voice, Rio's eyes widened at the sight of Kaito. "Oh, Tenjō-kun! I'm going to the infirmary, actually." Kaito's face got a worried look to it at the mention of the infirmary. "Are you sick?" he asked. "A little, but I have something to do there," Rio replied. Getting closer, Kaito looked at her face. "You do look a bit pale. Are you sure you're okay?" he said, getting closer.

"Ah, don't come closer!"

"Why?"

"I… it's dangerous, uh…" Rio muttered, trying to get away and taking steps backwards. She didn't notice she was backing up into the stairs, and missed a step. Losing her balance, Rio screamed as she fell back, nothing to hold on to. Kaito reached out to her, grabbing her arm. "Rio!"


End file.
